Yesod SheBeYesod. Connection within Foundation.
On days like this one, where we explore the sefira within itself, I am grateful that each of these has so many wonderful facets. Today, I am taken by the idea of Connection within Foundation. This, in itself, holds so much.
This weekend, I am headed to the international business convention of the recovery program of which I am a member. As you know, at the end of the day, G8d is my Foundation - my Rock, צורי. However, my recovery program is what gave me the tools to build this Foundational Connection, so I consider it the Foundation of my contented living. I was given the tools - the "spiritual technology" as my teacher Rabbi Marcia Prager likes to say - to build a Connection with G8d. I was given the tools to build strong Bonds and Connections with other people. Through my Connection with G8d, I have built a strong sense of self, which is also a key ingredient in fostering healthy Connections with the people in my life.
Finally, I think of what I will be experiencing this weekend. I will be with hundreds of other fellows in recovery, who share this Foundation of recovery. Many I will have never met, many others will be familiar to me from past conventions, plenty I will meet for the first time in person, having established relationships through regular phone calls, and another hefty handful are people with whom I have been walking this path for many years. We come from near and far. Some will drive 20 minutes to get to the convention site, some will have come from places as far off as Taiwan or Australia. Whatever the exact extent of each of our personal Connections, we share a Bond through our Foundation that is indelible. You can feel it when you walk into the room where hundreds of people are taking Quiet Time together. You can sense it in the joy shared in happy reunions or first time in-person contact that happens in the hallways and lobbies. It is a weekend we look forward to all year.
Today, let us feel our Connections to our Foundations. Let us appreciate the Connections that Foundation enables for us. Let us Enjoy the Bonds with those with whom we share a sense of Foundation.
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For a couple of different Omer counting guides try mishkan.org or chabad.org.